Bangladesh to float tender for mega bridge project

The Bangladeshi government will float international bids for construction of the stalled Padma Multipurpose Bridge at the end of this month, the country's communications minister said Wednesday. "The tender for constructing the main infrastructure of Padma bridge will be floated on June 30," Obaidul Quader, communications minister, said at a program here in capital Dhaka. The construction of nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars bridge was stalled after World Bank canceled 1.2 billion U.S. dollars credit line for it over graft allegations. Bangladeshi Finance Minister AMA Muhith had earlier said the government plans to build the longest bridge with its own fund and 68.52 billion taka (nearly 1 billion U.S. dollars) will be allocated for the purpose in the next 2013-14 fiscal year (July 2013-2014) national budget which is all set to be unveiled in the parliament on Thursday. The proposed 25-meter-wide and 10-km-long bridge will be built over Padma River, one of the three biggest rivers in Bangladesh. About 6.15 km of the bridge will be built over the river while the remaining part on both banks. Apart from connecting nearly 30 million people in Bangladesh's southwest region to the rest of the country, the bridge will enhance regional trade and collaboration along the Asian highway No. 1 and the Trans-Asian railway network systems.